Caden's Accident

April 4, 2012
I have fallen way behind on blogging.  Mainly because i was not ready to relive this....(but for scrapbooking sake i better document it)
It was  James 2nd birthday and we were all up in James and Caden room packing.  When Ellie and Caden decided to opened his bedroom window and then Caden fell out through the screen about 25 feet to the ground.  I was turned the other way but heard something and immediately turned around.  I screamed "Where is Caden?!!" as i ran to the window to look down.  My first thought is i don't want to go down there i know that he is dead.  But then he started Screaming!  So i ran as fast as I could down the stairs and to the side of the house where i found him lying with his head on the rocks and his body on the ground.  I looked him over and he didn't look right.  i did not know if i should move him, i lifted his head gently and that is when the blood started oozing out of the back of his head.  I started screaming for help and Ellie (6 years old) came running down and i told her to call 911.  She ran to my neighbors Darbee Beynon and she called 911.
My first impression when  i saw Caden is that he is going to be all right but it was hard to hold on with that with all the blood and everything. I looked like i was in a horror film.   I felt like i was  praying and begging and pleading constantly for two days with my Heavenly father to let me have my Caden back.
I carried Caden to the front yard so i could get more help.  Everything felt like slow motion, and like i was watching myself outside my body.  Darbee was so great in trying to keep me calm and telling me to put pressure on the wound and to try to keep him awake.  Jocelyn brought me my phone and i called Jeff and no answer then called again and he picked up a i was screaming to him.  He was in draper at work and drove straight to primary's and beat the ambulance there.  My sister in law Laura happened to call and was  close by so she helped the ambulance find our home.  By the time the ambulance came is seemed for ever.   They took Caden and started hooking iv's in him so we would be ready when we got there.  Caden was a fighter he kept trying to pull my hands away from his head and when he got on in the ambulance they had to restrain his arms.   I rode with him to the hospital and tried to keep him calm and awake.  Laura stayed with my other kids.  We finally got to the hospital and i lost it when i saw Jeff.  They rushed Caden into the trauma room where he started going down hill.  His eyes were drifting and he was in and out of consciousness and have problems breathing.  They gave him a breathing tube and stapled the large wound in his scalp.  When he was stable they took him to do a CTS scan of his head, neck , chest and abdomen and pelvis.
The next part was what i call the Waiting Game.  Waiting Waiting and waiting for each test and each result with our stomach tied in knots not knowing what was going to happen.  With each piece of news you could let out that knot a little bit.  My family was out of town on a trip.  But my Grandfather Nelson and my brother Blake came up to the hospital along with Jeff's parents, grandma and Brother Scott.  After some of the test were done they let us give him a blessing.  Which helped all of us feel like he was going to be OK. (what is ok was still to be determined)  Word traveled fast about Caden and our ward had a fast and so many friends and family prayed for Caden.  We totally felt that and know that all your prayer helped our family.
From that point on he began to make progress.  Waking up occasionally very agitated so they kept him sedated with morphine.  He wasn't breathing on his own and kept the tube in that night and the next morning for the MRI to check out some of the bleeding they saw in the spine.  Jeff and i stayed the night and tried to alternate sleeping but was really more like resting.  Caden did open his eyes a few times that night but you could tell he was confused.  But they were straight forward and moving!
The next day he got the MRI they found a small compression fracture at T1 and T2 but no ligament injury and bruising of the brain but no bleeding.  He also broke a rib.   We were so excited about this news that there was no brain damage and he should be able to recover from this horrible nightmare.  Slowly the stomachache and nausea was fading.  Still so many unknowns with memory, hearing and rehab but the worst was defiantly behind us.  That evening he remembered going to the zoo the day of the accident and said his first word "Lion" answering grandmas question which animal was his favorite.   Still in the ICU the took the breathing tube out and they continued to watch him.   He was reaching milestones for which we were so grateful for.
The next day he said a few more words and was sitting up.  They took the headdress and neck brace off and moved him to NTU (Neuroscience Trauma Unit)  They swelling then went to his head and his eyes.  That evening he was able to stand up and pee by his self.  The next day he was doing lots better he had energy and wanted to walk around, paint, play bop-it and was hungry. That morning My family came straight from the airport to see him.  And by that evening he was doing so good they let us take him home!!!!   It was truly a miracle and one we will take!!  We can not thank all of our friends and family enough for all the prayers, fasting, meals brought over, kids taken care of, phone calls, cards, text messages.  We are SO SO SOOOOOOO BLESSED!
Here are some pictures....









the cracked skull











love this Smile!



the Thumbs up for going HOME
Jeff took his staples out and gave him a haircut




He is doing Awesome and is expected to make a full recovery. The first week home was kinda rough with sleeping in our room and the pain. This whole thing brings tears to my eyes whenever i think about it.  He has had to lay low and take it easy the first few weeks, but now is back to his self but still a little cautious so not to re injure until the skull fully heals.  He went back to school this week and life is finely starting to get back to normal.  It has taken me longer to recover emotionally that Caden physically.  I am so grateful to how resilient kids are.  But as he is better the rest of us are better too.  " Thanks Be to God!"